Renewable energy target slashed, wind farm commissioner to be established

By Elise Scott

24 June 2015 — 1:30am

Canberra: The clean energy sector will finally face certainty after the parliament passed legislation to slash the renewable energy target.

A bipartisan deal - agreed to last month after a lengthy political stalemate that hamstrung the clean energy sector - will slash the target from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000.

A wind turbine stands at the Capital Wind Farm, operated by Infigen Energy, in Bungendore, New South Wales. A wind farm commissioner will be established to resolve complaints from concerned residents living near wind turbines.Credit:Bloomberg

Legislation inscribing that deal passed the Senate during an extended sitting late into Tuesday night.

Labor and the Greens failed to scrap wood waste burning as a renewable source under the scheme after the government did a deal with four crossbenchers to establish a wind farm commissioner.

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Peter Thompson with solar panels on the roof of his home in Miranda. There is no planned change to the popular roof-top solar scheme.Credit:James Alcock

The commissioner will resolve complaints from concerned residents living near wind turbines.

The crossbenchers were also promised a "scientific committee" to research wind turbines and advise ministers on their environmental impact and potential health problems in return for their votes.

Both the opposition and the Greens are concerned the inclusion of wood waste burning could encourage unsustainable harvesting of native forests.

"The pressure is on to continue the incredibly damaging logging of our forests," Greens senator Janet Rice told the Senate on Tuesday.

But the government says wood waste will only be eligible for the scheme if the logging's primary purpose is more profitable than burning for energy.

Independent senator Glenn Lazarus - the only crossbencher to vote with the Greens and Labor against wood waste burning - was not part of the wind farm commissioner deal.

He's annoyed the dirty deal to slash the RET was done in the first place but failed - along with the Greens - to amend the legislation to retain the 41,000GWh target.

"The rest of the world is moving towards renewable energy and so should we," Senator Lazarus told the Senate on Tuesday.

He disputed crossbench senator claims wind turbine noise could make people sick, noting Europe enjoyed an abundance of wind energy.

"In Europe the hills are alive with the sound of music, not turbine noise because there is none."

By contrast, he said, coal seam gas mining is destroying the lives of people in regional and rural Australia, is toxic and creates actual noise.

The government believes the reduced target will address an oversupply of energy in the market and save consumers from possible price hikes had the larger target not been reached.

The deal includes no change to the popular roof-top solar scheme and an exemption for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed sectors like aluminium.

Its passage comes after Prime Minister Tony Abbott boasted the deal would slash the target and restrict wind energy growth as much as possible.

Mr Abbott believes wind farms, the main beneficiary of the target that requires 20 per cent of Australia's energy to come from renewables by 2020, are ugly and noisy.

He has also questioned whether the turbines make people ill.

That's a concern echoed by Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm who has compared `Big Wind' to `Big Tobacco' and accused the industry of ignoring the concerns of residents living near turbines.

But the National Health and Medical Research Council has found no convincing evidence of health effects associated with so-called "wind turbine syndrome" and called for more research.

Labor believes it's "shameful" for the government to establish a wind farm commissioner months after scrapping the full-time disability discrimination commissioner.

Uncertainty for the clean energy sector began after the government appointed Dick Warburton - often labelled a climate sceptic - to carry out a legislated review of the target early last year.

Following the review, the government announced intentions to slash the target to 27,000GWhs amid concerns the legislated gigawatt hour target would overreach 20 per cent.

Those two-yearly reviews were also scrapped in the deal, after strong push back from the clean energy industry.